How Did The Underground Railroad Affect Thomas Garrett Life

Underground Railroad
Since the year of 1619, when a Dutch ship brought the first African slaves into the United States, slavery thrived. In states like Mississippi, over fifty percent of the population owned slaves. As retaliation, during the year of 1850, the Underground Railroad was created, with the sole purpose of liberating the slaves in captivity (History.com Staff). To disagree with slavery was widely looked down upon. Laws were put in place like the Fugitive slave acts to specifically arrest those who assisted the slaves, along with the slaves themselves (Levi Coffin). The leader of the Quakers, George Fox, kept his philosophy of equality consistent when he and his group became the front-runners of emancipation. The Quaker group, with

When he was a kid, his family would hide runaway slaves in their Delaware county farmhouse. From a young age, Garrett knew that slavery was cruel. One time Garrett’s family’s black servant was kidnapped. The servant was almost forced back into slavery (Thomas Garrett). This moment changed Thomas’s life forever, as he noted this event as the time in which we wanted to devote his life to the abolitionist movement. Thomas strategically lived in Delaware, as it was the final station of the Underground Railroad (Enabling Freedom). Garrett would provide the runaway slaves with a place to stay, food, water, and money. He would even frequently work hand in hand with the most famous conductor of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman (Underground Railroad). Thomas Garrett devoted forty years of his life freeing slaves (Underground Railroad). He helped over 2,700 slaves escape. Although Garrett was fined over $5,400 during his time, which is equivalent to around $165,000 in 2018, Thomas was never deterred (Bureau of Labor Statistics). He wanted to change people’s lives and give them the freedom they were entitled to when they were born on this planet. Garrett, a wealthy, white, Quaker member, didn’t view African Americans any differently than he viewed his own family. His story and passion was very complementary to what George Fox envisioned the Quakers to be. His role as a conductor led to thousands of slaves fleeing to a place where they are